Eminem On Course To Make UK Chart History
‘Kamikaze’ looks set to provide Eminem with his ninth consecutive chart-topping UK album. He currently shares the record of eight No. 1s in a row with ABBA and Led Zeppelin.
Eminem is on course to make UK chart history. The influential Detroit hip-hop star’s surprise album release Kamikaze is heading for the top of the official UK albums chart, for what would be his ninth consecutive chart No. 1 in that territory. That would beat the record for the most successive chart leaders, which Eminem currently holds with Led Zeppelin and ABBA, who have eight chart-topping albums apiece.
According to the Official Charts Company, Kamikaze is racing to the summit of the midweek UK chart with a substantial lead over the rest. At the halfway point, Kamikaze is some 20,000 combined chart sales ahead of Idles’ second-placed Joy As An Act Of Resistance with digital downloads accounting for 60% of its tally and the remainder from streaming equivalent sales. Kamikaze, Marshall Mathers’ tenth album, is not yet available in physical formats.
As uDiscover Music previously reported, Kamikaze was released without warning on 31 August via Shady/Aftermath/Interscope Records to digital retailers and streaming services. It is the hip-hop superstar’s follow-up to his 2017 release Revival. The latter started atop the Billboard 200 with 267,000 units earned in its first week, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 197,000 were in traditional album sales.
Billboard also reports that Eminem is on course for his ninth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart next week, according to industry forecasters. It is believed Kamikaze will easily start with over 225,000 equivalent album units in the week ending 6 September, and its final first-week figure will likely be larger.
The Billboard 200 ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The top ten of the 15 September-dated Billboard 200 chart – on which Kamikaze should debut at No. 1 — is scheduled to be revealed on Billboard’s websites on Sunday (9 September).
Eminem’s Kamikaze has also been making waves on the UK’s midweek singles update, with three potential top ten entries. Halfway through the chart week, ‘The Ringer’ places at No. 4, ‘Lucky You’ at No. 7 and ‘Greatest’ at No. 9.
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